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Darkness Ahead of Us #1
Darkness Within
How far would you go when civilisation ends?
A nation devastated by an EMP. Two women, struggling to survive.
Anna Greene isn't prepared for emergencies, let alone the end of the world, but she's a quick thinker and plans to hunker down while England's government and military desperately attempt to preserve the peace.
But first she needs to find her sister.
While stocking up on supplies, Anna meets Christine Hughes, an overworked nurse with only one goal: to keep her family safe.
Even if she has to kill to do it.
With food and water becoming scarce, the army is rapidly losing control.
Both women are faced with an impossible choice: who would you sacrifice to protect the people you love?
Darkness Within is a gripping post-apocalyptic EMP story with flawed and complex characters and psychological suspense.
This survival series is perfect for fans of character driven stories, looking to read about strong women who don't back down when the odds are stacked against them.
A nation devastated by an EMP. Two women, struggling to survive.
Anna Greene isn't prepared for emergencies, let alone the end of the world, but she's a quick thinker and plans to hunker down while England's government and military desperately attempt to preserve the peace.
But first she needs to find her sister.
While stocking up on supplies, Anna meets Christine Hughes, an overworked nurse with only one goal: to keep her family safe.
Even if she has to kill to do it.
With food and water becoming scarce, the army is rapidly losing control.
Both women are faced with an impossible choice: who would you sacrifice to protect the people you love?
Darkness Within is a gripping post-apocalyptic EMP story with flawed and complex characters and psychological suspense.
This survival series is perfect for fans of character driven stories, looking to read about strong women who don't back down when the odds are stacked against them.
- GenresPost Apocalyptic
200 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 4, 2020
65 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Leif Spencer
11 books11 followersLeif Spencer grew up in Switzerland where she was happiest hiking in the mountains.
She now lives in England where she writes and occasionally argues about plot with her dogs.
She's an only child, who gets irrationally angry at the English wind blowing in her face when she's out walking.
When she's not writing, she loves to cook but apart from that would struggle during an apocalypse because she relies on technology too much. To make up for that (and for being a tiny woman) she runs, climbs, and lifts weights.
Find her on Facebook @lspencerauthor or sign up to her mailing list to be the first to find out about new releases. Not only will you receive the occasional freebie, but there might be dog pictures.
The End We Saw is her debut series.
She now lives in England where she writes and occasionally argues about plot with her dogs.
She's an only child, who gets irrationally angry at the English wind blowing in her face when she's out walking.
When she's not writing, she loves to cook but apart from that would struggle during an apocalypse because she relies on technology too much. To make up for that (and for being a tiny woman) she runs, climbs, and lifts weights.
Find her on Facebook @lspencerauthor or sign up to her mailing list to be the first to find out about new releases. Not only will you receive the occasional freebie, but there might be dog pictures.
The End We Saw is her debut series.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 1, 2020
Another fantastic insight into humanity from Leif Spencer!
I read Leif Spencer's THE END WE SAW series last year, and fell in love with the fantastic cast of characters, the struggles they endured, the growth they achieved, and how they were so desperate to survive against all odds. While TEWS had a fantasy/supernatural flavour added to it, DARKNESS WITHIN is AAAALL about the psychological torment "the end of the world" could bring.
Although with a smaller cast - DW focuses on two POVs - this book does NOT hold back its punches when it comes to gut-wrenching decisions and emotional impact. Chris and Anna are the two female protagonists, and chapters alternate between them pretty equally. Both are "average" woman, who are not military trained or ultra survialists. They're ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
That's not to say they're bland or boring. Far from it. Although I found myself rooting for Anna - the definite underdog in this story - Chris's chapters always kept me on the edge of my seat. There's a definite hardness within her, something not quite tainted, but not quite happy, and I had no idea what she was going to do from one scene to the next. It was utterly gripping.
Leif's writing style is outstanding. From staccato short sentences to drive home powerful emotional hit after powerful emotional hit, to chunkier paragraphs of beautiful description and pure psychological suspense. From terror to love, panic to determination, DARKNESS WITHIN touches on each part of the human psyche.
Although another short(er) story, but by no means a novella, DARKNESS WITHIN is something you can read over a weekend - or faster, if you're not as slow a reader as I am.
I'm not always a huge fan of post-apocalyptic stories. I don't like zombies. I don't like gung-ho gunslingers. I don't like the deep violence that appears to be inherent within humanity. But there's something about Leif's writing that makes it hard to stop. It's engrossing. Although some of the characters do abhorrent things, they aren't evil, necessarily. They are made up of a patchwork of grey layers, that more accurately reflect who people are as individuals more than most other books I've read.
While Chris and Anna are the protagonists, they aren't alone in this book. You have Tom, who is Chris's 14 year old sullen teenager, struggling to come to grips with his entire world shifting underfoot. You have Sarah, Anna's sister who lives only a few minutes away by car, but in a world where electronics are fried, it suddenly turns into a multi-day hike across burning towns. You have John, a soldier tasked with keeping the peace and distributing rations, who has his own family to take care of.
You have action pieces, you have rising tension, you have suspense and thrills. Much like TWES, DW throws up a lot of questions about humanity, trust, love, and the lengths people will go to in order to survive.
It's a "small" story because it follows two people in one town (Essex, so yay another book set in the UK!). But with this being the first of a series, I imagine the end of the world will suddenly become a lot bigger than Harlow.
Another fantastic book by Leif Spencer who, in my opinion, is an author to watch.
I read Leif Spencer's THE END WE SAW series last year, and fell in love with the fantastic cast of characters, the struggles they endured, the growth they achieved, and how they were so desperate to survive against all odds. While TEWS had a fantasy/supernatural flavour added to it, DARKNESS WITHIN is AAAALL about the psychological torment "the end of the world" could bring.
Although with a smaller cast - DW focuses on two POVs - this book does NOT hold back its punches when it comes to gut-wrenching decisions and emotional impact. Chris and Anna are the two female protagonists, and chapters alternate between them pretty equally. Both are "average" woman, who are not military trained or ultra survialists. They're ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
That's not to say they're bland or boring. Far from it. Although I found myself rooting for Anna - the definite underdog in this story - Chris's chapters always kept me on the edge of my seat. There's a definite hardness within her, something not quite tainted, but not quite happy, and I had no idea what she was going to do from one scene to the next. It was utterly gripping.
Leif's writing style is outstanding. From staccato short sentences to drive home powerful emotional hit after powerful emotional hit, to chunkier paragraphs of beautiful description and pure psychological suspense. From terror to love, panic to determination, DARKNESS WITHIN touches on each part of the human psyche.
Although another short(er) story, but by no means a novella, DARKNESS WITHIN is something you can read over a weekend - or faster, if you're not as slow a reader as I am.
I'm not always a huge fan of post-apocalyptic stories. I don't like zombies. I don't like gung-ho gunslingers. I don't like the deep violence that appears to be inherent within humanity. But there's something about Leif's writing that makes it hard to stop. It's engrossing. Although some of the characters do abhorrent things, they aren't evil, necessarily. They are made up of a patchwork of grey layers, that more accurately reflect who people are as individuals more than most other books I've read.
While Chris and Anna are the protagonists, they aren't alone in this book. You have Tom, who is Chris's 14 year old sullen teenager, struggling to come to grips with his entire world shifting underfoot. You have Sarah, Anna's sister who lives only a few minutes away by car, but in a world where electronics are fried, it suddenly turns into a multi-day hike across burning towns. You have John, a soldier tasked with keeping the peace and distributing rations, who has his own family to take care of.
You have action pieces, you have rising tension, you have suspense and thrills. Much like TWES, DW throws up a lot of questions about humanity, trust, love, and the lengths people will go to in order to survive.
It's a "small" story because it follows two people in one town (Essex, so yay another book set in the UK!). But with this being the first of a series, I imagine the end of the world will suddenly become a lot bigger than Harlow.
Another fantastic book by Leif Spencer who, in my opinion, is an author to watch.
September 3, 2020
With the world and order they came to rely on all their lives gone, Anna and Chris make a shaky alliance made of need, with one simple goal, to survive. Fast paced and gripping, Leif Spencer tells you a story of trust, betrayal and two quite different women trying to make sure they and their family still have a place in this bleak looking future. Makes you wonder, who YOU would trust, if the world you know comes to an End.
Leif Spencer’s writing style wastes no words and throws you straight into the story she wants to tell. Effortlessly she takes you on a travel through a London suburb with a completely different kind of lockdown, than we have experienced in Spring 2020, and on a voyage through minds that struggle with the changes they are faced with, inside and out.
I can’t wait for the continuation of the story!
Full disclosure: I know the author personally.
Leif Spencer’s writing style wastes no words and throws you straight into the story she wants to tell. Effortlessly she takes you on a travel through a London suburb with a completely different kind of lockdown, than we have experienced in Spring 2020, and on a voyage through minds that struggle with the changes they are faced with, inside and out.
I can’t wait for the continuation of the story!
Full disclosure: I know the author personally.
July 9, 2021
Copying review from previous GR account:
Another fantastic insight into humanity from Leif Spencer!
I read Leif Spencer's THE END WE SAW series last year, and fell in love with the fantastic cast of characters, the struggles they endured, the growth they achieved, and how they were so desperate to survive against all odds. While TEWS had a fantasy/supernatural flavour added to it, DARKNESS WITHIN is AAAALL about the psychological torment "the end of the world" could bring.
Although with a smaller cast - DW focuses on two POVs - this book does NOT hold back its punches when it comes to gut-wrenching decisions and emotional impact. Chris and Anna are the two female protagonists, and chapters alternate between them pretty equally. Both are "average" woman, who are not military trained or ultra survialists. They're ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
That's not to say they're bland or boring. Far from it. Although I found myself rooting for Anna - the definite underdog in this story - Chris's chapters always kept me on the edge of my seat. There's a definite hardness within her, something not quite tainted, but not quite happy, and I had no idea what she was going to do from one scene to the next. It was utterly gripping.
Leif's writing style is outstanding. From staccato short sentences to drive home powerful emotional hit after powerful emotional hit, to chunkier paragraphs of beautiful description and pure psychological suspense. From terror to love, panic to determination, DARKNESS WITHIN touches on each part of the human psyche.
Although another short(er) story, but by no means a novella, DARKNESS WITHIN is something you can read over a weekend - or faster, if you're not as slow a reader as I am.
I'm not always a huge fan of post-apocalyptic stories. I don't like zombies. I don't like gung-ho gunslingers. I don't like the deep violence that appears to be inherent within humanity. But there's something about Leif's writing that makes it hard to stop. It's engrossing. Although some of the characters do abhorrent things, they aren't evil, necessarily. They are made up of a patchwork of grey layers, that more accurately reflect who people are as individuals more than most other books I've read.
While Chris and Anna are the protagonists, they aren't alone in this book. You have Tom, who is Chris's 14 year old sullen teenager, struggling to come to grips with his entire world shifting underfoot. You have Sarah, Anna's sister who lives only a few minutes away by car, but in a world where electronics are fried, it suddenly turns into a multi-day hike across burning towns. You have John, a soldier tasked with keeping the peace and distributing rations, who has his own family to take care of.
You have action pieces, you have rising tension, you have suspense and thrills. Much like TWES, DW throws up a lot of questions about humanity, trust, love, and the lengths people will go to in order to survive.
It's a "small" story because it follows two people in one town (Essex, so yay another book set in the UK!). But with this being the first of a series, I imagine the end of the world will suddenly become a lot bigger than Harlow.
Another fantastic book by Leif Spencer who, in my opinion, is an author to watch.
Another fantastic insight into humanity from Leif Spencer!
I read Leif Spencer's THE END WE SAW series last year, and fell in love with the fantastic cast of characters, the struggles they endured, the growth they achieved, and how they were so desperate to survive against all odds. While TEWS had a fantasy/supernatural flavour added to it, DARKNESS WITHIN is AAAALL about the psychological torment "the end of the world" could bring.
Although with a smaller cast - DW focuses on two POVs - this book does NOT hold back its punches when it comes to gut-wrenching decisions and emotional impact. Chris and Anna are the two female protagonists, and chapters alternate between them pretty equally. Both are "average" woman, who are not military trained or ultra survialists. They're ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
That's not to say they're bland or boring. Far from it. Although I found myself rooting for Anna - the definite underdog in this story - Chris's chapters always kept me on the edge of my seat. There's a definite hardness within her, something not quite tainted, but not quite happy, and I had no idea what she was going to do from one scene to the next. It was utterly gripping.
Leif's writing style is outstanding. From staccato short sentences to drive home powerful emotional hit after powerful emotional hit, to chunkier paragraphs of beautiful description and pure psychological suspense. From terror to love, panic to determination, DARKNESS WITHIN touches on each part of the human psyche.
Although another short(er) story, but by no means a novella, DARKNESS WITHIN is something you can read over a weekend - or faster, if you're not as slow a reader as I am.
I'm not always a huge fan of post-apocalyptic stories. I don't like zombies. I don't like gung-ho gunslingers. I don't like the deep violence that appears to be inherent within humanity. But there's something about Leif's writing that makes it hard to stop. It's engrossing. Although some of the characters do abhorrent things, they aren't evil, necessarily. They are made up of a patchwork of grey layers, that more accurately reflect who people are as individuals more than most other books I've read.
While Chris and Anna are the protagonists, they aren't alone in this book. You have Tom, who is Chris's 14 year old sullen teenager, struggling to come to grips with his entire world shifting underfoot. You have Sarah, Anna's sister who lives only a few minutes away by car, but in a world where electronics are fried, it suddenly turns into a multi-day hike across burning towns. You have John, a soldier tasked with keeping the peace and distributing rations, who has his own family to take care of.
You have action pieces, you have rising tension, you have suspense and thrills. Much like TWES, DW throws up a lot of questions about humanity, trust, love, and the lengths people will go to in order to survive.
It's a "small" story because it follows two people in one town (Essex, so yay another book set in the UK!). But with this being the first of a series, I imagine the end of the world will suddenly become a lot bigger than Harlow.
Another fantastic book by Leif Spencer who, in my opinion, is an author to watch.
September 5, 2020
I did enjoy this story! A good EMP end of the world! Good characters & plot! This is the first book I have read by this writer, but it certainly won't be the last! I look forward to more by this author!
June 27, 2021
Very tense from the word go and I’m not relaxed after finishing this first book in this new series either!
A very taut mental joust of the fears and anxiety people needing to survive would bring to the party after an abrupt loss of all things electrical.
As in the first series, The End We Saw, I enjoy the ease and flow of how characters meet and weave in and out throughout each other’s existence.
The story is enjoyable. I wish it didn’t leave me so tense and edgy after having read it. I have to rest up to read the next!
A very taut mental joust of the fears and anxiety people needing to survive would bring to the party after an abrupt loss of all things electrical.
As in the first series, The End We Saw, I enjoy the ease and flow of how characters meet and weave in and out throughout each other’s existence.
The story is enjoyable. I wish it didn’t leave me so tense and edgy after having read it. I have to rest up to read the next!
September 8, 2021
Darkness
I was reading this when my power went out during a nasty thunderstorm. I was able to continue reading with no internet connection. The story leaves me with mixed feelings. I sometimes liked Chris and Anna and at times I did not. I have not decided yet if I will read more in this series.
I was reading this when my power went out during a nasty thunderstorm. I was able to continue reading with no internet connection. The story leaves me with mixed feelings. I sometimes liked Chris and Anna and at times I did not. I have not decided yet if I will read more in this series.
March 23, 2021
A great book.
I love the Post-Apocalyptic Genre. (As I write them myself)
This has a strong female lead.
It's all about decisions the characters make in the first couple of days before everyone else has a chance to react.
I love the Post-Apocalyptic Genre. (As I write them myself)
This has a strong female lead.
It's all about decisions the characters make in the first couple of days before everyone else has a chance to react.
April 16, 2021
Enjoyable read.
Great adventure set in my home county of Essex. This book explores the world post EMP. Always nice to have a dog as a a main character. Will be interesting to see the continuing story in the next instalment.
Great adventure set in my home county of Essex. This book explores the world post EMP. Always nice to have a dog as a a main character. Will be interesting to see the continuing story in the next instalment.
June 27, 2022
This is not a particularly challenging read. There are few characters and a simple hero's journey from Harlow to Colchester and back again. It's a slim volume that moves along at quite a pace. That I quite liked. The plot is an interesting one, possibly designed to encourage us to read all three volumes. We are left unaware of what caused the EMP and why certain electronics continued to work whilst others didn't. That I didn't like.
There were some aspects of the characters that I found to be quite believable, but others that didn't quite sit right. For example, when the downstairs neighbour is killed by the soldier, the idea of going to his flat and taking his stuff sounded entirely credible. The point at the start where electronics ceased to work and the character Anna immediately knew it to be an EMP, I found to be fairly unbelievable. If we took 1,000 people at random, how many would know this? If it were to be a naturally occurring EMP (the Carrington Event is mentioned), then where was the aurora light show? The story is consistent with it being a man made phenomenon, but the author leaves no clues to this.
The question of the immediate survival is an interesting one. I couldn't quite see from where they drew their water. We are told about rainfall capture, but that must have been fairly sparse. We were told about bottled water, but that has a heavy weight for the volume contained. Once the gravity fed urban water sources had been depleted, rom where did they find water? More to the point, what were their sewage arrangements? Within the time span of the book, I would have expected to find more evidence of water borne diseases. Faecal matter in drinking water would be fairly high on my expectations. Thinking about it, where did they poo? There would be no flush toilets after a short while, and the water would be too valuable to use in this way.
The theme of an EMP aftermath is an interesting one. At one level, we could see it in terms of Spiral Dynamics. At one moment, we are living at Green or Yellow levels of self-actualisation. The next moment, we are back to Beige or Purple levels of bare existence. That dimension of the subject is an interesting one, but it is one which the author doesn't explore. I see that as a missed opportunity.
I think that my interest has been raised enough for me to have a look at Volume 2. Because I'm a collector, I'll probably take Volume 3 as well. What I make of them remains to be seen. If, at some point in the future, you find them in a charity second-hand book shop, you'll know what the answer to that has been.
There were some aspects of the characters that I found to be quite believable, but others that didn't quite sit right. For example, when the downstairs neighbour is killed by the soldier, the idea of going to his flat and taking his stuff sounded entirely credible. The point at the start where electronics ceased to work and the character Anna immediately knew it to be an EMP, I found to be fairly unbelievable. If we took 1,000 people at random, how many would know this? If it were to be a naturally occurring EMP (the Carrington Event is mentioned), then where was the aurora light show? The story is consistent with it being a man made phenomenon, but the author leaves no clues to this.
The question of the immediate survival is an interesting one. I couldn't quite see from where they drew their water. We are told about rainfall capture, but that must have been fairly sparse. We were told about bottled water, but that has a heavy weight for the volume contained. Once the gravity fed urban water sources had been depleted, rom where did they find water? More to the point, what were their sewage arrangements? Within the time span of the book, I would have expected to find more evidence of water borne diseases. Faecal matter in drinking water would be fairly high on my expectations. Thinking about it, where did they poo? There would be no flush toilets after a short while, and the water would be too valuable to use in this way.
The theme of an EMP aftermath is an interesting one. At one level, we could see it in terms of Spiral Dynamics. At one moment, we are living at Green or Yellow levels of self-actualisation. The next moment, we are back to Beige or Purple levels of bare existence. That dimension of the subject is an interesting one, but it is one which the author doesn't explore. I see that as a missed opportunity.
I think that my interest has been raised enough for me to have a look at Volume 2. Because I'm a collector, I'll probably take Volume 3 as well. What I make of them remains to be seen. If, at some point in the future, you find them in a charity second-hand book shop, you'll know what the answer to that has been.
July 8, 2021
I liked that this was set in England and felt like the writing style and editing was fairly good. My issue was the characters. This starts as a story of two women (one with a son) who are not at all prepared for a sudden loss of all electronics/grids etc. However, it devolves into a sordid and murky story. Both women are psychologically damaged from years of terrible experience, and Chris in particular is a borderline sociopath that tried to kill a cat just for fun when she was a young teenager, killed her boss right after the apocalypse starts and if she didn't kill her husband, her constant cruelty made him think life wasn't worth living. Anna had some potential, but she constantly second-guesses herself and ends up trying to kill Chris who decides she has to kill Anna. What a mess. I managed to finish but won't continue since everyone involved might have been better off had both of these women been successful in eliminating the other.
September 1, 2020
The book has a good plot and would make a great bedtime read. There is not much action, but there is suspense. A lot of this story could have been proven one way or another like the suicide of the father. The ending is left up to your own imagination and leaves a lot of openings for another book using Chris and his mother surviving the EMP.
September 26, 2020
Interesting take on the EMP apocalypse. This was more of a story about how it effects people mentally. The fear of being able to survive when one wasn't prepared for it. The characters acted about how you would think. Worrying able food and shelter, willing to do anything to find that. Over all it is a suspenseful story.
I received this book as a gift in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book as a gift in exchange for an honest review.
September 20, 2020
5 stars
A good book with interesting characters and enough action to keep my attention. Very good writing. Looking forward to the next installment.
A good book with interesting characters and enough action to keep my attention. Very good writing. Looking forward to the next installment.
December 3, 2020
Wasn't bad but took almost 3 chapters to pull me into the story.
July 31, 2022
It was suspenseful, a fairly good read, but I hate books that just lead into another book. It wasn’t good enough for me to go to the 2nd book.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews